1. Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains to the cooking of dough products such as bagels, using a heated water cooking medium.
2. Description of the Related Art
Various apparatus has been proposed for the mass production of dough products such as pretzels and bagels. U.S. Pat. No. 4,759,939, issued to Keller, et al., Jul. 26, 1988, discloses a continuous production of pretzels wherein a brining station is provided to spray a heated caustic solution of sodium hydroxide onto an extruded dough product. An essential feature of the treatment is the maintenance of conditions in the extruder which guarantee that the dough is not cooked. The caustic solution is sprayed on the uncooked dough prior to passing the extruded dough through a salting station where salt granules are applied to the dough with a vibrating pan. Although the caustic solution is applied at elevated temperatures, from about 180.degree. F. to 200.degree. F., no substantial heating or cooking of the dough is reported. However, it is believed that pretzel dough has been cooked somewhat with heated water as a preliminary step by applying a waterfall of a caustic soda solution to the pretzel dough, which is partially submerged in a caustic soda bath. The purpose of the pretreatment waterfall step is to cause flavor and color changes in the pretzels, and any cooking thereof is believed to be incidental.
It is also known to precook dough products with an open kettle filled with heated water. The open kettle cookers require the dough products to be flipped over to complete cooking of their upper portions. It has been found that such open cooking operations are space-efficient. With submerged cookers, the dough products are susceptible to marking when carried by a conveyor, as during transit through the cooker. The dough bodies may be sized and formed using apparatus such as that disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,147,809 in which the product is extruded using a screw conveyor system.
Heated water is used in other applications for processing different types of food products. For example, it is known to blanch vegetables by passing the vegetables through an insulated steam chamber which may include a waterfall shower for treating the upper surface of the products. The same blanching apparatus is also used to cool the vegetable products with water of reduced temperature. Waterfall chillers are also known to cool heated products packed in pouches, prior to freezing, as an energy saving step.
It is known to cook bagels in a water bath. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,657,769 teaches cooking of bagels in boiling water after leaving a wet proofer which exposes the bagels to hot, moist conditions. After cooking in boiling water for 25 to 30 seconds, the bagels are quick frozen in a -15.degree. F. freezer. The bagels are maintained at the freezer temperatures during packaging and storage. In end use, the bagels are allowed to thaw at room temperature, optional toppings are applied and baking of the bagels is carried out in an appropriate oven.
Further advances are still being sought in the automated, mass production preparation of dough products such as bagels.